


Heart-to-Heart

by queuebird



Category: Peaky Blinders (TV)
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, Gen, Sibling Bonding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-23
Updated: 2019-11-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 07:00:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 724
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21529453
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queuebird/pseuds/queuebird
Summary: “Can we talk?” Ada says.
Relationships: Ada Shelby & Tommy Shelby, Jessie Eden/Ada Shelby, Minor or Background Relationship(s), Tommy Shelby/Alfie Solomons
Comments: 8
Kudos: 67
Collections: Peaky Blinders Exchange Round Two: Season 5 Edition





	Heart-to-Heart

**Author's Note:**

  * For [HazelNMae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/HazelNMae/gifts).



> Credit to [toyhto’s](https://archiveofourown.org/users/toyhto/pseuds/toyhto) [Staying Alive](https://archiveofourown.org/works/13205445/chapters/30207141) for the inspiration for this little scene!
> 
> Thanks to [Vamillepudding](https://archiveofourown.org/users/vamillepudding) for the beta and letting me talk at you about this haha.
> 
> HazelNMae, this is probably not what you were looking for, but I hope you like it anyway!

“Can we talk?” Ada says.

Tommy eyes her, standing in the darkened doorway, from his seat at the table. “...About what?” he says, wary.

Ada doesn’t respond. Instead, she sits down across from him and pours herself a drink. Tommy supposes he should settle in for a long one.

“You’ve been acting...different lately,” she begins.

Tommy squints. “The fuck’s that supposed to mean?”

Ada shakes her head slightly. “Nothing,” she says, “It was just an observation. Not _bad_ different. Just different.”

Tommy rolls his eyes and slouches back in his chair. “Christ,” he says. “Everyone’s always on my arse.”

“Will you quit jumping to conclusions?” Ada says. “I’m not _accusing_ you of anything, Tommy. Not everyone is out to get you.”

Tommy scoffs and digs out a cigarette. Ada’s full of fucking shit. Once the cigarette is lit and in his mouth, he mumbles out, “So what, what’s different, eh? What the fuck do you want to talk about?”

“Just…” Ada glances down, then back up at Tommy. “It’s good to have things that,” a very slight pause, “make you happy.”

Something twists up and freezes in Tommy’s chest. He breathes in, carefully, through his nose. “What are you on about.”

Ada looks up at the ceiling and sighs. “It’s okay to let yourself be happy.”

“Right, yeah, you said that,” Tommy says, impatient now.

“Sometimes, I feel like…”

“What.” 

“Like, I don’t know. You feel guilty for being happy. It’s not a bad thing, you know? Being happy.” Ada twists her hand around her glass thoughtfully. “It’s like you’re always punishing yourself for something. I never know why.”

 _Christ._ Tommy takes a pull on his cigarette and stares out the window. “What is this about, Ada,” he says. He tries to summon the anger, the righteous fury, but instead he just feels tired.

“It’s okay if something makes you happy,” Ada says, looking at him steadily. “Even if that something is Alfie Solomons.”

A chill shivers across him, just from hearing her utter Alfie’s name out loud, right out in the air where anyone can fucking hear.

“Fuck,” Tommy says, and starts to pace. “How,” he starts, and then he says, “I’m not,” and then he shakes his head and runs a hand through his hair and says, “Is it going to be a problem?” 

“Is what going to be a problem?”

“Me and Alfie,” he almost spits it, like it’s a curse, "or me and,” he stumbles over the word a little bit, “men.” Even as it comes out of his mouth, he winces. It’s not...it’s not a _thing._ Not really. He tries not to think about it, buries it in the back of his mind with a lot of other shit. Anyway, it’s none of Ada’s fucking business, is it?

Ada sighs. “Oh, really, Tommy? Of course not.”

“Because if it is,” Tommy begins. 

“Jesus.”

“If it _is,”_ he insists, anger prickling at his scalp, “then I _swear--”_

“Can you relax?” Ada says. “This is ridiculous. I’m with Jessie, for Christ’s sake. There.” Tommy stops pacing. “Now can you stop acting like I’m trying to ruin you?”

 _She’s with…_ “Jessie?” he says, blank, and then, “...Eden?” As if they knew any other Jessies. 

Ada drinks from her glass. “He makes you happy.” It’s not a question.

Tommy ignores her. “Jessie?” he repeats.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, or to--to punish yourself over.”

“I’m not punishing myself,” Tommy says, faintly.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Ada says, but it’s almost gentle.

Tommy makes an almost-noise in his throat, something in him giving in. “I just feel like I’m always.” He drops into the chair, and rubs at his eyes with one hand. After a few moments, he says, instead, “She make you happy?”

Ada laughs, sudden and bright. “Yes, she does.”

“Well.” Tommy doesn’t have anything to say to that. “S’good, then,” he tells the table. He sips his whiskey and lets the silence go on.

Ada finishes her drink and gets up from the chair. “I just wanted to say, you know. I’m glad that you’re happy. You’re alright, Tommy.”

“Well, now that I have my sister’s blessing,” Tommy says, wry, stubbing his cigarette out.

“You’re very welcome,” Ada tells him seriously.

When she leaves, Tommy stares into space for a while, thinking. He thinks he’ll go visit Alfie.

**Author's Note:**

> [tumblr](http://queuebird.tumblr.com/)


End file.
